President's Day

For President's Day weekend Sam and I went with his family to St. George. We had a great time. Some of the festivities included, going to the Mongolian BBQ (a Powell family favorite), teaching the Powell's how to play Oh Heck, having naps and reading books. I always love a trip to St. George.

Sadly, this blog post reveals my lack of diligence in keeping my new years resolution to take more pictures.

Here are some pictures of the things that have been going on.

The WRE Christmas Party-we had to leave before it began.

On our way to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.

Preparing for a Christmas feast.

Beautiful Sisters

Everyone looking very red. 

The best Christmas re-gift.

The pipe smoking nutcracker that Gary gave us. 

Preparing for Sam's birthday party.

Super good home made Chinese food. Good choice Sam. 

What Happened to the Fall?

It has now been proven that I treat my blog just like my journal. After several months of writing nothing, I try to quickly remember everything that happened and quickly preserve it for posterity.  As there is too much to write I will let the pictures tell the story.

The trees were so beautiful at our house we had to get a picture. The problem was the camera was balanced on the hood of the car so it's not the greatest shot. 

The usual General Conference yoga kickball game. What a pretty place to live!

Celebrating Guy Fawkes with fish and chips

Audrey and the Utah State choirs say Benjamin Britten's War Requireum  at the Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake on Veterans Day. The music was moving.  

I got to go to Washington DC with Sam on a business trip. We felt like real grown ups. We could not stop thinking of our nephew Hudson when we saw all the trains at the Museum of American History. This is only one of the many train pictures. 

When you ask a stranger to take a picture of you it is always best to ask the guy with the most expensive looking camera get up hanging around his neck.  Although it helps if they speak English, nonetheless this picture turned out great.

Probably the highlight of the trip, worth the hours of walking to get there. 

Our flight didn't leave until 3, so we had planned to see all the memorials our last day. It turned out there was a heavy rain, and we had forgotten that once you check out of the hotel you are responsible for your luggage. Sam was so sweet and dragged our suitcases all over the Mall in the pouring rain. It you squint you can see the White House in the background of this picture. 

Yes Sam hauled our suitcases up those stairs. Once at the top the security guard told us there was an elevator. 

This is the closet we got the the Arlington Cemetery as we had already walked what seemed like ten miles and this was were the Metro station was that would take us to the airport. 

The day before Thanksgiving all my brothers and sisters were here. It was so nice to have everyone together. Sadly my mom got sick and had to be in bed during the day she had been looking forward to for months. 

We had a great game of Volleyball at the church. Alison showed us all her moves. 

We spent Thanksgiving with the Powell's in St. George. I was really bad at taking pictures so these are the two you get. It was so nice to relax with family in the warmth of the south. 

Ending up in Enderby

We have been looking forward to the Lee family reunion all summer. Sam and I had a goal to take the oil car the whole way. So we packed up four 15 gallon barrels of oil and were on our way. We had a wonderful surprise for my dad and sisters who had gone to Calgary a week earlier and were meeting us in Salmon Arm, B.C., where the reunion was being held. My mother had planned to go with them to Calgary to attended her parents 60th wedding anniversary party, but discovered her passport had expired in March. She sadly waved good-bye as the trio left for Alberta. On Monday morning she found out that she could enter Canada with the expired passport, if she had three forms of I.D. So we brought her with us to surprise dad and the girls!

After an hour of finding every hotel in Missoula full, we found vacancy at the classy Bel Aire motel downtown. With the neon pink lights burning all night, cigarette burned sheets and pink toilet, I can assure you our stay was a delight.  

Grand Coulee was a fun stop. We ate at the TeePee Drive-in and sadly did not roll a Yahtzee for a free meal. Although we had a lovely lunch with the Christian Motorcycle Association Bikers.  

We arrived in Enderby, the small town we were staying in just south of Salmon Arm, and were received with great enthusiasm. All rejoiced that mom had been able to come. We celebrated with delicious fish and chips.

The next morning, as it was sunny and beautiful, we rented a boat to ride on the Lake. Sam was a great caption. While Sam and I were tubing we crashed into each other and my nose smashed his hand. Luckily I had little bruising, but poor Sam had a swollen finger. Dad got up on skis and showed us all his moves.  

The reunion was fantastic. We had so much fun playing games at the church, eating, playing volleyball, swimming, and of course it would not be a Lee event without lots and lots of talking! 

We drove tandem on the way home and every time they stopped for gas, we would fill up with oil. It is a really great feeling to be at a gas station and not pay a thing! In Dillon my mom spotted a Taco Bus and we had a delightful lunch.